Jeremiah 4:7

4:7 Like a lion that has come up from its lair ¹ 

the one who destroys nations has set out from his home base. ² 

He is coming out to lay your land waste.

Your cities will become ruins and lie uninhabited.

Jeremiah 9:11

9:11 The Lord said, ³ 

“I will make Jerusalem ⁴  a heap of ruins.

Jackals will make their home there. ⁵ 

I will destroy the towns of Judah

so that no one will be able to live in them.”

Jeremiah 26:9

26:9 How dare you claim the Lord’s authority to prophesy such things! How dare you claim his authority to prophesy that this temple will become like Shiloh and that this city will become an uninhabited ruin!” ⁶  Then all the people crowded around Jeremiah.

Jeremiah 33:10

33:10 “I, the Lord, say: ⁷  ‘You and your people are saying ⁸  about this place, “It lies in ruins. There are no people or animals in it.” That is true. The towns of Judah and the streets of Jerusalem ⁹  will soon be desolate, uninhabited either by people or by animals. But happy sounds will again be heard in these places.

Jeremiah 34:22

34:22 For I, the Lord, affirm that ¹⁰  I will soon give the order and bring them back to this city. They will fight against it and capture it and burn it down. I will also make the towns of Judah desolate so that there will be no one living in them.”’”

Jeremiah 44:22

44:22 Finally the Lord could no longer endure your wicked deeds and the disgusting things you did. That is why your land has become the desolate, uninhabited ruin that it is today. That is why it has become a proverbial example used in curses. ¹¹ 

Isaiah 5:9

5:9 The Lord who commands armies told me this: ¹² 

“Many houses will certainly become desolate,

large, impressive houses will have no one living in them. ¹³ 

Isaiah 6:11

6:11 I replied, “How long, sovereign master?” He said,

“Until cities are in ruins and unpopulated,

and houses are uninhabited,

and the land is ruined and devastated,

Zephaniah 1:18

1:18 Neither their silver nor their gold will be able to deliver them

in the day of the Lord’s angry judgment.

The whole earth ¹⁴  will be consumed by his fiery wrath. ¹⁵ 

Indeed, ¹⁶  he will bring terrifying destruction ¹⁷  on all who live on the earth.” ¹⁸ 

Zephaniah 2:5

2:5 Those who live by the sea, the people who came from Crete, ¹⁹  are as good as dead. ²⁰ 

The Lord has decreed your downfall, ²¹  Canaan, land of the Philistines:

“I will destroy everyone who lives there!” ²² 

Zephaniah 3:6

The Lord’s Judgment will Purify

3:6 “I destroyed ²³  nations;

their walled cities ²⁴  are in ruins.

I turned their streets into ruins;

no one passes through them.

Their cities are desolate; ²⁵ 

no one lives there. ²⁶ 

¹ tn Heb “A lion has left its lair.” The metaphor is turned into a simile for clarification. The word translated “lair” has also been understood to refer to a hiding place. However, it appears to be cognate in meaning to the word translated “lair” in Ps 10:9; Jer 25:38, a word which also refers to the abode of the Lord in Ps 76:3.

² tn Heb “his place.”

³ tn The words “the Lord said” are not in the text, but it is obvious from the content that he is the speaker. These words are supplied in the translation for clarity.

⁴ map For location see Map5-B1; Map6-F3; Map7-E2; Map8-F2; Map10-B3; JP1-F4; JP2-F4; JP3-F4; JP4-F4.

⁵ tn Heb “a heap of ruins, a haunt for jackals.”

⁶ tn Heb “Why have you prophesied in the Lord’s name, saying, ‘This house will become like Shiloh and this city will become a ruin without inhabitant?’” It is clear from the context here and in 7:1-15 that the emphasis is on “in the Lord’s name” and that the question is rhetorical. The question is not a quest for information but an accusation, a remonstrance. (For this figure see E. W. Bullinger, Figures of Speech, 953-54, who calls a question like this a rhetorical question of remonstrance or expostulation. For good examples see Pss 11:1; 50:16.) For the significance of “prophesying in the Lord’s name” see the study note on 14:14. The translation again utilizes the indirect quote to eliminate one level of embedded quotation.

⁷ tn Heb “Thus says the Lord.” For the first person rendering see the translator’s note at the end of v. 2.

⁸ tn Heb “You.” However, the pronoun is plural as in 32:36, 43. See the translator’s note on 32:36.

⁹ map For location see Map5-B1; Map6-F3; Map7-E2; Map8-F2; Map10-B3; JP1-F4; JP2-F4; JP3-F4; JP4-F4.

¹⁰ tn Heb “Oracle of the Lord.”

¹¹ tn Heb “And/Then the Lord could no longer endure because of the evil of your deeds [and] because of the detestable things that you did and [or so] your land became a desolation and a waste and an occasion of a curse without inhabitant as this day.” The sentence has been broken up and restructured to better conform with contemporary English style, but an attempt has been made to preserve the causal and consequential connections.

¹² tn Heb “in my ears, the Lord who commands armies [traditionally, the Lord of hosts].”

¹³ tn Heb “great and good [houses], without a resident.”

¹⁴ tn Or “land” (cf. NEB). This same word also occurs at the end of the present verse.

¹⁵ tn Or “passion”; traditionally, “jealousy.”

¹⁶ tn Or “for.”

¹⁷ tn Heb “complete destruction, even terror, he will make.”

¹⁸ tn It is not certain where the Lord’s words end and the prophet’s words begin. It is possible that Zephaniah begins speaking in the middle of v. 17 or at the beginning of v. 18 (note the third person pronouns referring to the Lord).

¹⁹ tn Heb “Kerethites,” a people settled alongside the Philistines in the coastal areas of southern Palestine (cf. 1 Sam 30:14; Ezek 25:16). They originally came from the island of Crete.

²⁰ tn Heb “Woe, inhabitants of the coast of the sea, nation of Kerethites.” The Hebrew term הוֹי (hoy, “ah, woe”), is used to mourn the dead and express outwardly one’s sorrow (see 1 Kgs 13:30; Jer 22:18; 34:5). By using it here the prophet mourns in advance the downfall of the Philistines, thereby emphasizing the certainty of their demise (“as good as dead”). Some argue the word does not have its earlier connotation here and is simply an attention-getting interjection, equivalent to “Hey!”

²¹ tn Heb “the word of the Lord is against you.”

²² tn Heb “I will destroy you so there is no inhabitant [remaining].”

²³ tn Heb “cut off.”

²⁴ tn Heb “corner towers”; NEB, NRSV “battlements.”

²⁵ tn This Hebrew verb (צָדָה, tsadah) occurs only here in the OT, but its meaning is established from the context and from an Aramaic cognate.

²⁶ tn Heb “so that there is no man, without inhabitant.”